Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Fuels: Northern Ireland

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the difference in the cost of fuel between Northern Ireland and Great Britain; and what steps they intend to take in response.

Lord Callanan: The Government collects price data on a national average basis but is aware that, on average, fuel prices in Northern Ireland are generally cheaper than those in other parts of the United Kingdom. The Government therefore welcomes the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) market study into Great Britain’s road fuel market, investigating factors driving price variations. The CMA will publish its report including options for possible next steps by 7th July. The Government will carefully consider the recommendations, while looking at pro consumer options, which could give drivers better access to fuel price data.

Energy Price Guarantee

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the rise of the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG); and whether they will meet these costs by increasing the energy price levy.

Lord Callanan: The Energy Price Guarantee will continue to support households from April 2023 by limiting the amount suppliers can charge per unit of energy used. Whilst the level of the EPG remains below the Ofgem price cap, the EPG will continue to save households money from their energy bills compared to the undiscounted prices that consumers would pay under Ofgem’s Price Cap. This new approach will cost the taxpayer significantly less than planned and will help to ensure fiscal sustainability, whilst targeting support to those most in need. There are currently no plans to increase the Energy Profits Levy, announced in May 2022.

EU Law

Baroness Andrews: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take if any relevant Retained EU Law that underpins the Common Frameworks programme is revoked; and what changes they will make to the dispute resolution process to ensure that it can be utilised to deal with issues arising from the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.

Baroness Andrews: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their proposed changes to the Common Frameworks Governance structures necessitated by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, including the terms of reference and proposed memberships for the relevant working groups.

Lord Callanan: Each Common Framework contains a review and amendment mechanism. This ensures the Framework can adapt to changing policy and governance environments in the future and provides for both periodic review and an exceptional review triggered by a significant issue. A significant issue is an issue that fundamentally impacts the operation or scope of the Framework. In many cases, reform of the retained EU law which a Common Framework covers will comprise this. Where retained EU law covered by a Framework is revoked, the parties to the Framework would be able to use this mechanism to review the Framework and make the required amendments.Whilst there are minor differences between the dispute avoidance and resolution mechanisms set out within different Common Frameworks they all follow broadly the same structure and process, and can escalate into intergovernmental relations level mechanisms where necessary. The dispute avoidance and resolution mechanism in Frameworks are designed to deal with policy and governance disputes arising under the Framework. This is a broad category and as a result disputes about reform of retained EU laws would already fall within scope without change required.Retained EU law itself forms a key part of the scope of individual Common Frameworks and retained EU law reform could necessitate changes to a Framework. This would include any changes to working groups.For Common Frameworks that are not fully implemented, the amended provisional Common Framework will be published on the completion of legislature scrutiny and sign-off by relevant ministers. As this includes NI ministers this will take place when the NI Executive is restored.For Common Frameworks that are fully implemented, the amended Framework would be published on GOV.UK once all parties had given their approval, as a matter of course. Again, this will depend on the functioning of the NI Executive.